The National Park Service (NPS) has retracted a proposal to take down a statue of William Penn at a Philadelphia historical site as part of a renovation.
The NPS had announced its plan on Jan. 7 and quickly withdrew the plan on Jan. 8 after the announcement raised a torrent of criticism from the public as well as politicians from both sides.
In a brief statement, Independence National Historical Park said it has withdrawn the proposal it had announced quietly before the weekend about a wider renovation of Welcome Park, located just blocks from the Liberty Bell and the National Constitution Center.
The proposal, it said, was released “prematurely” and hadn’t undergone a complete internal review.
“No changes to the William Penn statue are planned,” it said. The park service never explained the reason for the impetus to remove the statue.
Welcome Park is a section of a city block bordered by apartments and a bed and breakfast. It is named for the ship that brought Penn to Philadelphia from England in 1682 and is built on the site of Penn’s home, the Slate Roof House, which was demolished in the 1800s.
The NPS plan had described the changes to the
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